What Does Soma Symbolize In Brave New World

In the words of Bangambiki Habyarimana, “It’s better to be ignorant and live in bliss than know the truth and live in agony.” Aldous Huxley plays off this idea through the creation of soma in his novel, Brave New World. The novel is a dark play off the idea of a “utopian” society, in which humans are genetically bred and conditioned to serve the government. The citizens of the World State have a change of perspective once a savage comes to live in their society with his mother. Soma plays a large part in Brave New World, acting as a drug that all citizens of the World State are dependent on. Huxley uses soma to present the central theme that ignorance of the World State citizens helps the government and hurts the individual.

During the 1930s, the times of World War II and the Great Depression, Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World. There were several issues going on in Huxley’s time that are still present in today's world . Huxley features some of these problems in his book, Brave New World. These problems include drug or medicine usage, women and gender inequality, and traditional marriage/homosexuality. Since this book was written during the times of the Great Depression and World War II, these factors also contributed to some of these issues. Since World War II and the Great Depression are over, these do not affect the problems today. Although some of these problems are still a problem in today's world and society, they are not as much of a problem as they were during Huxley's time.

Bernard is the perfect example of unhappiness. Lenina states, “why you don’t take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You’d forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable you’d feel jolly. So jolly,” (Huxley 92). Soma is not an option in Bernard’s world because it does not make him feel like himself. People take soma to forget about their problems and it also helps them feel emotionless. Bernard states, “I’d rather be myself…myself and nasty,” (Huxley 89). Bernard is an individual and it does not give him true happiness. Soma is supposed to make Bernard happy but since the system does not really work because Bernard is not happy. Bernard wants to be himself because making him take soma does not really help him feel less crappy.

1. The thesis of this essay in the author's words is "Travel is how we put a voice to the Other and step a little beyond our second hand images of the alien." In other words, the author is trying to tell us that travelling is necessary in order for us to not hold prejudices and experience the lifestyle of other cultures.

Fredrich Engles (1820-1895) was a German social scientist, journalist, and professional revolutionary. He was chiefly known for his close collaboration with Marx. He helped Marx with ideas on economics and with his writings. His communist beliefs took effect in the BNW in the concept that everyone is enslaved to the civilization and that there is complete equality in each caste.

In the Sci-fi futuristic novel “Brave New World”, published in 1932, Aldous Huxley introduces the idea of the utopian society, achieved through technological advancement in biology and chemistry, such as cloning and the use of controlled substances. In his novel, the government succeeds in attaining stability using extreme forms of control, such as sleep teaching, known as conditioning, antidepressant drugs – soma and a strict social caste system. This paper will analyze the relevance of control of society versus individual freedom and happiness to our society through examining how Huxley uses character development and conflict. In the “Brave New World”, Control of society is used to enforce

Soma is a word that is used many times in this book. Feeling down? Take some Soma. Feeling overwhelmed? Take some Soma. Having one thought that goes against the norm of society? Take a lot of Soma. The citizens in this world use Soma at every possible occasion, and are more

Brave New World is a book about a futuristic Earth where people are made by science and trained to do certain tasks, as babies. One of the motifs of the story is divergence. The main characters, Bernard, John, and Helmholtz all show some form of being different from the rest of the population. The books of Shakespeare that John owned, are another motif that is expressed. Shakespeare and the World State are extremely contradicting, while the World State wants to eliminate passion, and love, Shakespeare tries to propel it.

Soma is “the drug sponsored by the state to reduce or eliminate feelings of unhappiness” (Huxley 23). If a drug like Soma were to be created in today’s world it replace all the drugs in the world because there is no side effects. The number of Americans abusing prescription drugs has almost doubled from 7.8 million in 1992 to 15.1 million in 2003 (The Washington Times, 2005), where soma is used worldwide in Brave new world. The drug Soma in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, could easily be described as a modernized prescription drug.

would you like this evening?" The house was silent” (Bradbury 4). In the story it tells the reader

J.M. Reinoso once said “Happiness is distraction from the human tragedy”. In the novel Brave New World, soma acts as a distraction from the unpleasant life the characters are living. Mustapha Mond, world controller, describes soma as “Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly hallucinant” (Chapter 3). The characters in the novel use soma as a way to relax and distract themselves in tense situations, as well as make them oblivious to the enslaved conditions in which they are living.

in the 1930’s to show us how political and society were during that year. There was a lot of

Emerging theme(s): Freedom vs. Confinement - One of the main emerging themes that is present in Brave New World is the ability to live a free life against being stuck to doing whatever somebody tells you to do. In the Brave New World version of London, the citizens are classed based on their intellect and looks, and gain advantages or disadvantages depending on what class they are. However, no matter what class a citizen may be, they will never have the liberties like people do in western society today. The citizens of London are always confined to what the World Controllers want in their society. But, these citizens are always happy in their utopian society that they do not even know that they’re imprisoned.

Whenever the members take soma, they are always happy, but this is false happiness. Soma makes people happy, so they do not stir up trouble. The members are forced to take soma, depriving them of actual thoughts and

Aldous Huxley wrote the book Brave New World, which was originally published in 1932. Throughout the story, many characters are introduced but some of the main characters are the Director of the Hatcheries and Conditioning (Known as Tomakin and D.H.C.), Lenina Crowne, Bernard Marx, Henry Foster, Mustapha Mond, and John the Savage. At the beginning of the book, D.H.C. is taking student on a tour of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, while he explains the conditioning process and introduces a few of the main characters such as, Henry Foster and Lenina Crowne. Early on in the the book, soma is introduced, which is a drug that is taken everyday that the government uses to keep people from speaking freely. While in the